The present invention relates generally to computer tools for education, and, more particularly to computer-based methods and systems for creating and evaluating quizzes and for creating structured learning materials which define the subject matter of the quizzes.
Current quiz authoring systems provide forms for quiz authors to enter all of the data to create a particular type of quiz and to provide an evaluation of a student""s responses. Typical quiz formats include multiple-choice, short answer, true-false, fill-in-the-blank, and matching. Such quizzes do not explicitly represent the underlying materials on which they are based. Each question, in a particular format and with its answers and feedback, is individually hand-crafted and stored for later use by a student.
Some current quiz authoring systems are embedded within more general-purpose computerized learning presentation systems or computer-assisted instructional systems. Here, the quizzes are tied to particular portions of course materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,911 discloses a computerized learning, response, and evaluation system that includes an embedded question-generation component. That system eliminates the requirement that the author explicitly write quiz questions. However, that system nevertheless requires the author of the learning materials to indicate, within the materials, what portions of the materials are to be used for questions and what are to be used for correct answers, and to further structure the materials to segregate incorrect answers (distracters) from the questions and correct answers. Such quizzes can only be used as part of the overall learning system.
In computer-assisted instructional systems, the learner""s quiz responses are analyzed, tailored feedback is provided, and the results are also used to determine the learner""s continuing path through the course material. This functionality is often implemented by means of a knowledge base with a rule-based inference engine, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,987,443 and 6,029,156. The tailored quiz feedback that such systems provide will be helpful to the student, but the feedback functionality is tied to the larger system, limiting quiz reusability.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,974 discloses an evaluation-based learning system for the production, use and administration of courses, wherein a database of questions and answers are linked to a textbook. Creating such a database is generally labor-intensive. Furthermore, new editions of a textbook require a full review of the database.
A closely related technology is that of flashcard applications. Current flashcard applications provide the user with the means to enter data in a table with two or more columns, where each table row represents various pieces of information related to a single item. For example, a row might contain a word, its translation into French, and the definition of the word in French. These applications generate one or more types of quizzes based on two of the columns in the table. Correct answers are determined from the table. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,444. The ability to generate quizzes from data represented in a table is very useful, but does not address the need to generate quizzes for learning materials represented in other ways. Examples of other representations for learning materials include maps, outlined notes, simple lists (ordered or unordered), and process charts.
Existing systems provide a variety of features to assist in preparing, presenting, and providing feedback for computer-based quizzes. Yet each type of system suffers from specific deficiencies in reusability, range of data representations, or automation of quiz and feedback generation. The need exists for a quiz generation and evaluation system which addresses these issues.
One object of the present invention is to provide a learning system which operates from a database of structured learning materials to produce quizzes in multiple formats.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a learning system which produces quizzes from diverse forms of structured learning materials.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a learning system with an interface module architecture which allows the use of knowledge bases not necessarily designed for any specific type of quiz.
Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a learning system having a data-driven architecture that enables the use of new types of structured learning materials to generate quizzes in multiple, existing and additional formats without any change to existing structured learning materials or quiz generators.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a learning system having a data-driven architecture that enables the generation of quizzes in multiple, additional formats using existing or additional structured learning materials, without any change to existing structured learning materials or quiz generators.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a learning system having a rule-driven analysis engine for examining an entire set of quiz responses simultaneously.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a learning system which produces feedback on quiz responses based on categories of incorrect answers, which may include a single error or a set of related errors.
These and other objects are accomplished according to preferred embodiments of the invention. There is educational software using a computer and having a data storage system including a software module database management system and a user database management system. There is a quiz module database, maintained by the software module database management system, containing at least one quiz module, and a structured learning material editor module database, maintained by the software module database management system and containing at least one structured learning material editor modules. The software also has a structured learning material database, maintained by the user database management system, for storing at least one structured learning material data set created by a user. A user interface is provided for selecting system control functions, editing structured learning materials, presenting quizzes, receiving user answers to quizzes, and displaying quiz analysis results. A control system retrieves software modules from the software module database management system and activates them. There are at least one structured learning material editor, one editor being selected for use in editing structured learning material data in response to a request through the user interface. There is also a plurality of quiz modules, each including a generator, a presenter, and an analyzer, the generator transforming input data into screen presentation data and quiz answer analysis rules, the presenter, through the user interface, displaying the quiz to the user, accepting a user""s answers to the quiz and displaying analysis results to the user on those answers, and the analyzer evaluating the user""s answers to a presented quiz using the answer analysis rules provided by the generator. There may also be a data structure mapping module database, maintained by the software module database management system and containing at least one data structure mapping modules, and a plurality of data structure mapping modules, at least one of which is used to transform structured learning material data sets into input data for a quiz module. The present invention also includes the method carried out by the software, and the method of using the software.
Other objects, features and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: